1969 Topps #434 Jerry Koosman
About this card
Cards #416-435 are the twenty Sporting News All-Stars, ten from each league - a catcher, the four infielders, three outfielders and two pitchers - with the National and American League picks alternating from #416; the run straddles the fourth and fifth series, and the backs assemble into two puzzle photos.
About Jerry Koosman
At 9-8 in 1969, Koosman won eight of his last nine decisions to finish 17-9 with a 2.28 ERA and 180 strikeouts. In the World Series he held Baltimore hitless into the seventh inning of Game Two and went the distance in the clinching Game Five. Topps gave him two cards: #90, a first-series card with the All-Star Rookie trophy, and #434, a fifth-series Sporting News All-Star card.
Jerry Koosman pitched 19 major league seasons (1967-1985) for the New York Mets, Minnesota Twins, Chicago White Sox and Philadelphia Phillies, finishing 222-209 with a 3.36 ERA and 2,556 strikeouts. A Minnesota farm kid, he was pitching for an Army team at Fort Bliss, Texas, when his catcher's father, a Shea Stadium usher, passed word to Mets farm director Joe McDonald, and Koosman signed in 1964 for a $1,600 bonus. A slider learned from instructor Frank Lary kept him in the organization, and in 1968 the hard-throwing left-hander went 19-12 with a 2.08 ERA, setting franchise records and finishing one vote behind Johnny Bench for National League Rookie of the Year. He made the All-Star team in 1968 and 1969, and in 1969 he pitched behind Tom Seaver as the long-suffering Mets won the World Series, beating Baltimore twice in the Series. He won 21 games in 1976, was traded to Minnesota at his own request after the 1978 season, and won 20 for the Twins in 1979 before closing out with Chicago and Philadelphia. He is not in the National Baseball Hall of Fame, but the Mets inducted him into their team hall of fame in 1989 and retired his number 36 in 2021.
Sources: Wikipedia · SABR BioProject · Baseball-Reference
Graded population (PSA & SGC)
| Grader | Total | 10 | 9 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 5 | 1-4 | Auth |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| PSA | 386 | 1 | 52 | 176 | 84 | 40 | 15 | 17 | 1 |
| SGC | 23 | 0 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 1 | 0 |
Graded population — a scarcity guide, not a price. Data as of 2026-09-04. Half grades fold down for both graders (8.5→8); PSA qualified slabs (OC, ST, PD, MC and the like) are not counted.
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Related cards
More Jerry Koosman in this set: #90
More New York Mets cards:
- #31 Mets 1969 Rookie Stars
- #55 Jerry Grote
- #72 Ron Taylor
- #90 Jerry Koosman
- #112 J.C. Martin
- #127 Kevin Collins
- #144 Bob Hendley
- #193 Don Cardwell
- #221 Art Shamsky
- #245 Ed Charles
- #269 Al Weis
- #303 Cal Koonce
- #321 Jim McAndrew
- #343 Dan Frisella
Frequently asked questions
What is the 1969 Topps #434 card?
It is card #434 of the 664-card 1969 Topps Baseball set, picturing Jerry Koosman of the New York Mets. Cards #416-435 are the twenty Sporting News All-Stars, ten from each league - a catcher, the four infielders, three outfielders and two pitchers - with the National and American League picks alternating from #416; the run straddles the fourth and fifth series, and the backs assemble into two puzzle photos.
How many cards are in the 1969 Topps Baseball set?
664 cards, tracked as 696 collectible states. Numbers run from 1 to 664 with none skipped and no printed number shared by two cards; 32 cards carry catalogued print variations that the master set counts separately, 23 of them the yellow- and white-letter name pairs of #440-511.
Sources: Trading Card Database, PSA CardFacts, Cardboard Connection, Baseball Almanac, Baseball-Reference, the SABR BioProject and the National Baseball Hall of Fame, PSA & SGC population reports. Card data compiled and maintained by T206Cards.com. Page last updated 2026-10-12.